Most EU Member States will not meet their transport sector emission reduction targets by 2030, according to the analysis of their draft National Energy/Climate Plan (NECP) 2019-2030, published Thursday 13 June by Transport & Environment (T&E). Only the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain have reached an adequate score (more than 50% out of a maximum of 100 points per country), according to a ranking established by the NGO promoting sustainable transport.
The analysis aims to measure the compatibility of NECPs with the 2030 objectives, in this sector not covered by the ETS and with the longer-term objective of decarbonising the transport sector by 2050. On this basis, T&E has established a ranking of the Twenty-eight European countries.
While, according to the NGO, no draft plan submitted to the European Commission is sufficient to enable the EU to achieve its overall objective for 2030 (a reduction of at least 40% in its greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990), good practices listed in the study could help Member States to draw on the best practices of others to improve their NECP project and prepare their long-term strategy to be submitted before the end of the year.
Even the Netherlands, at the top of the list, particularly for its commitment to stop the sale of petrol or diesel cars by 2030 and to reduce total transport emissions by 29% compared to 2005, is in first place on a conditional basis, as the government has announced that it wants to make this target more flexible.
The United Kingdom and Spain, with good scores, are considering banning fossil fuel cars by 2040 - too late a date for decarbonising the fleet by 2050, according to T&E, which also criticises the British NECP project for leaving the door open for hybrid cars.
At the bottom of the list are Bulgaria, which does not expect any emission reductions from trucks, vans, aviation and maritime transport, and Hungary, the latest, which expects transport emissions to be 30% higher than in 2005. Between these extremes: Germany (15th) and Italy (17th).
The study is available online in English: https://bit.ly/2RdtoDe (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)